Marco Penge and Dan Brown may not have moved up many places in the Race to Dubai Rankings after their play-off at the Open de España presented by Madrid but the moves they did make could shape their seasons and their careers.
Brown birdied the 72nd hole at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid to join Penge at 15 under but on the first trip up the last, it was Penge who made a birdie to seal his third win of a remarkable breakout season.
He started the week third in the Rankings and while he only moved up one place, the 835.00 points won put him within fewer than 500 of long-term leader Rory McIlroy at the summit.
McIlroy will tee it up this week at the DP World India Championship before the two men tackle both events in the DP World Tour Play-Offs, with All To Play For in the battle to win the Harry Vardon Trophy.
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BMW International Open champion Brown may have narrowly missed out on a third DP World Tour title but the 555.00 points he picked up moved him to a season-high tenth on the Rankings, which puts him in line for the seventh of ten dual memberships available with the PGA TOUR.
That, however, is just 422.37 points ahead of Elvis Smylie, the man he bumped out of the tenth card and now the nearest challenger for dual membership.
In the race to make the Play-Offs, Joel Girrbach moved from outside the top 100 to 60th with his solo third finish, while Ugo Coussaud's tie for fifth lifted him into the top 70 just one place behind the Swiss.
The top 70 available on the Rankings after the Genesis Championship will advance to the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, with the top 50 after the week at Yas Links making it to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Remaining points on offer on the Race to Dubai
Event | Total points | Winner's points |
---|---|---|
DP World India Championship | 5,000 | 835.00 |
Genesis Championship | 5,000 | 835.00 |
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship | 9,000 | 1,500.00 |
DP World Tour Championship | 12,000 | 2,000.00 |